Interview with the Princess ~ Part IV
by Link Worshiper
Summary: The end of a tale of with epic propotions. It all comes down to a battle we've all come to know and love and a romance we all knew had to happen.


Interview with the Princess

Interview with the Princess 

By Shannon the Twisted Link Worshiper

Part IV~ A Love Before Time 

**~Authors Notes~** Well, we're down to the wire. This is the last installment of this big fat story. God it's taken me forever to write it! Never thought I'd live to see the day when I would be this far along. Hehe, I sure hope you people appreciate what I do for you. This fanfic business isn't as easy as they'd like you to think. Why, between school and sleep and homework and all that kind of stuff it's a wonder I've written any at all! Oh yeah and, no suing. We all know why. I think it's needless to bother about it anymore. 

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_To this world I'm unimportant just  
Because I have nothing to give  
So you call this your free country  
Tell me why it cost so much to live  
Tell me why_

_This world can turn me down  
But I won't turn away, oh no  
I won't turn around_

_All my work and endless measures  
Never seem to get me very far  
Walk a mile just to move an inch  
Now even though I'm trying so damn hard  
I'm trying so hard_

_This world can turn me down but I  
Won't turn away  
And I won't duck and run, cause  
I'm not built that way  
When everything is gone there is  
Nothing there to fear  
This world cannot bring me down  
No cause I'm already here, oh no!_

_I am already here, down  
On my knees  
I am already here, on no, I am  
Already here  
I must have told you a thousand  
Times I am not running away_

_I won't duck and run  
I won't duck and run  
I won't duck and run   
No I pass away_

_This world can turn me down but  
I won't turn away  
And I won't duck and run, cause  
I'm not built that way  
When everything is gone there is  
Nothing there to fear  
This world cannot bring me down  
No cause I'm already here_

_This world can turn me down, but  
I won't turn away  
And I won't duck and run,  
Cause I'm not built that way  
When everything is gone there  
Is nothing there to fear  
This world cannot  
Bring me down  
No cause I'm already here_

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"He was a monster. That much I knew from the moment Ganondorf first brought me to his wretched palace on the blackened hill that had once been my home. He even tried to make a joke out of it, though all that came out was a thoroughly twisted idea. 'You know,' he said, 'you shouldn't be so tense while being in my castle here with me. After all, it was once the place where you grew up… that is, until I killed all the bloody bastards.'

" 'Ah, you pig! How dare you say such things so casually!' I snapped at him from within my prism, my fists banging the crystalline walls with a hollow echo. He had it levitating behind him as he walked up a long flight of carpeted stairs made dastardly ugly by the nefarious golden glow of the bubbling hot lava that now flowed through the moat just outside the stained glass windows. 

" 'Easily, my dear,' he said nonchalantly as though he were commenting upon the weather. 'Why, it's nothing more than the truth. Look at Hyrule then, and compare it to now? Where does it flourish more?'

" 'Then,' I spat. He must have been blind as hell not to see how awfully barren and forlorn Hyrule was ever since he had usurped the throne. 

" 'Your words are cruel,' he said with a disgusting overdosing of sugar on his tongue. 'You give me no credit whatsoever.'

" 'I pay credit where it is due. You have not shown me a reason since the day I first laid eyes on you to give any praise to you or your cause.'

" 'Think what you want to, Princess,' was his tart reply. After that, he said nothing more, and just kept on going up those frightful stairs, my crystal cage doomed to follow him until he bade it to stop. At the top of the stairs was a great set of ebony double doors set with gold. Without even turning to face me, he snapped his fingers and the crystal prism disappeared from around me, dropping me cruelly to the floor. He said to me in a nastier voice than before, 'Get up.' It wasn't a request; rather, it was a command. Fearing the worst, I hastily got to my feet and brushed my skirts. 

" 'What is this?' I asked in my icy unforgiving voice. 'Why do you have me here?'

" 'Bait, my dear Princess,' he said as he shot me a pitiless grin over his shoulder. 'It works out beautifully, don't you think? I capture you, the Princess, and wait for that sniveling whelp of a Hero to show up and rescue his little girlfriend. Ha, and then I kill the both of you right then and there! How much fun will that be?' 

" 'That is the sickest, most disgusting thing I have ever heard,' I snapped back, crossing my arms.

"Ignoring my retort completely, he pushed the doors open, 'Ah well, these are my humble apartments. Might as well be comfortable before you die.' 

"The place was far from humble though, and while Hyrule suffered greatly, here Ganondorf sat with the very definition of luxury at his disposal. The room still had that weird golden glow to it and was laden with dark heavy ebony furniture. There was a huge red carpet on the wood floor and a large bed with many pillows and coverlets upon its feathery mattress. Two armchairs of dark green fabric sat by a large bay window and a huge fire roared in the great fireplace on the other end of the room.

" 'I couldn't be comfortable knowing you're within three feet of me and breathing my same air,' I said wryly.

" 'I would watch what I say if I was you,' he said coolly. 'After all, I hold you're life in my hands. If you are a good little girl, I might think of sparing you.'

"I smiled sort of, 'You don't have to lie and pretend you're a gentleman. You wouldn't spare your own mother.'

" 'What do you know about my mother?' he snapped. I just smiled maliciously at him and that made him fly in a rage. He gave me a hard shove into the room, coming after me with his fists raised. 'What you say next might determine whether you live or die before your Hero comes crashing in here.'

" 'I don't have to tell you anything,' I snorted. I turned my head away in contempt. 

"He eyed me oddly. I could feel him blasting me with hate. 'What do you mean by that?'

" 'You kill me now, and Link won't come. Come on, you know I'm right.' I smiled triumphantly. 

"I could see it in his eyes that he knew he had been beaten. He swore at me and turned around with a swirl of his crimson cloak. But then he began to laugh maniacally. His eyes became narrow and his red eye brows knitted together over his large nose, 'But wouldn't it make a great sight if little hero boy came trouncing in here only to find his lady dead? Oh that would be quite amusing as well.'

" 'That's even grosser than your first idea,' I grumbled under my breath.

"He raised his brows innocently as he sunk down in to a large high backed armchair. 'What was that you said? No matter, I'll pretend I never heard it.' He was silent for a moment before a grin crept over his face. 'Oh, oh! You know what would be even better than that whelp finding you dead?' He looked at me as though he were waiting for me to answer.

" 'I don't know what could be worse,' I sneered as I whirled around and stared out the window at the blackened skies outside. Hyrule was getting worse and worse by the second and it looked as though it would crumble from beneath our feet. 

"He rose from the chair and came behind me, placing his big clumsy hands on my shoulders and lowering his face to my ear as he spoke. 'Ah, now wouldn't it be delightful if he came here to find you a traitorous woman?'

"I tore out of his grip and spun around on my heel to face him. 'What the hell do you mean by that?'

" 'I could make you my wife, Princess,' he said with a look that chilled me to the bone. 'You would be my Queen. Your marriage to me would guarantee your safety. Wouldn't you rather be the wife of a great king than the whore of a penniless ruffian?'

" 'I would rather be his whore than your wife,' I snarled back at him. 

"He grabbed me violently around the shoulders and threw me onto his bed. 'I think you know what I really want from you, _Princess Zelda_. You had better do exactly as I command you if you value your life at all.' 

" 'I would rather die,' I said through gritted teeth. 

" 'I sure hope you like that idea of death my dear, because with the way you're acting, I think it's the fate that shall most certainly befall you,' he boxed me hard around the face a few times before going on. 'I can't stand that heroic crap. I can't _stand_ it!' 

"My face throbbed from where his heavy hand had flown against my cheek. My eye was blackened and a dribble of blood trickled from my lip. Despite all that, I found it in myself to keep up my rude sarcasm. In a crazy sort of way, it was fun taunting him like this. 'I can't stand _you, so I guess we're even, pig.'_

"He frowned at me darkly and turned away with a sigh. 'It's too bad, Princess. I had high hopes for you, after all. You know, now that I think of it, why do I address you as 'princess?' Princess of what--_thieves?' _

" 'It's better that you can say,' I snapped. 

" 'What are you talking about? I rule an entire damn world!' he roared with an insane laughter. From nowhere, he produced a small crystal sphere, which he brought to where I lay, heaving with anger on the bed. The evil little thing hovered over his hand as he lowered to where I could see. It glowed a faint greenish hue and then I saw inside a vision of Link fighting hoards of monsters and other such filth. 

" 'What is that?' I asked, my voice unwavering and full of hate. 

" 'Oh this little trinket?' he said in that sugary voice as though our argument from seconds before had never happened, 'this is a wonderful little toy that lets me spy on whatever I want within the walls of this castle. Right now, you are seeing your little Hero trying feebly to fight of all my armies of darkness. Good luck to him, because there are swarms of such demons in ever wing of my castle.'

" 'It's a trick, I know it,' I snapped. 'That's just an illusion from some magic. Link is running up those stairs outside this door right now and you know it.'

" 'Wrong, my dear,' he smiled, revealing a set of ugly crooked teeth. 'This cannot lie. What you see is the real Link in my real castle. I think I'll just leave it here with you.' He got to his feet and clapped his hands. Chains suddenly bound my feet and hands to the four bedposts. 

" 'This is sickly suggestive,' I shook in my bonds.

" 'Hmm, you're right it is,' he said with a cruel grin as he bent over me, his fingers lingering over the cloth that fell over my breasts, much to my absolute horror, 'I'll let my mind wander with it while I go prepare your grave…' He laughed, 'Just kidding, my lady. But be happy to know I'll give you both a half way decent burial.' With that, he jerked upright once more and he left the room with much haste leaving me on that horrid bed all tied up with that wretched little sphere of his depicting Link being smothered by thousands of monsters of all shapes and sizes. I rattled my chains and pulled as hard as I could at the cold shackles. Irritated that I could hardly loose them a bit, I screamed in rage, 'Ganondorf! Damn you to hell! Link will kill you with his bare hands!'

"As I went on making as much commotion as I could, from the corner of my eye, I saw the crystal ball hanging in midair. As if reacting to my resistance to my confinement, it glowed a dark red color and then zapped me with a shock of dark energy. What a cruel little thing! Only Ganondorf's black magic could be dark enough to create such a horrible ball. I knew that I was only getting a taste of what it could do. I kept quiet. 

"I have no idea for how long I lay there, just staring at the ceiling. So long as I didn't move or speak, the ball just hovered there, off and on showing me pictures of Link battling those goddamn monsters. But after what seemed like eternity, and about when I began to lose hope, there was a great pounding at the door, rattling the great slabs of wood on their hinges. I tried to jerk up into a sitting position, despite the little ball's shocks as I did so. 

" 'Link! Is that you?' I shouted. The ball shot more magic at me as I cried out, but I didn't care. It didn't' even hurt any more. 'Help me sweet one!'

"His voice was agonized and desperate, 'Zelda? Is that you? What has that bastard done to you? Zelda? Answer me?' 

" 'Nothing, nothing!' I insisted. 'Oh Goddess, Link! I though you would never come.'

"The doors gave way, and Link burst through in a flurry of splintering wood, little cuts and bruises all over him. 'Zelda?!'

"I tried to leap from the bed to him, but the crystal ball gave me an even more of a shock than it had in all the time I had spent with it. My vision became blurred and he became before me, nothing but a haze in the golden light. 'O Link! Link!'

"There was the sound of steel upon glass and I saw the flash of Link's sword as it flew over my head and smashed that devilish ball to pieces. It showered me with glass shards as it exploded upon contact with the sacred blade in a flash of black and yellow light. 

" 'Zelda, my Zelda,' he fell to his knees beside the bed that was my keep, almost in tears, his hands reaching worriedly for me. I choked back joyful tears of my own as soft parted lips fell upon my own. 

" 'Take these bonds from me,' I said, 'I will help you fight.'

" 'You know where Ganondorf hides?' he said with his damped eyes watching me with that loving gaze as he began to unlock the shackles that held me with a small needlelike dagger. 'Lead me to him, Zelda. I shall kill him for you. How could he do this to you? A poor woman used as a lure to draw her lover to his death. How fiendish is this act?'

" 'You will not die,' I said confidently. 'You cannot die and you shall not die.'

"He smiled as he helped me to my feet when I was free, 'Your confidence strengthens me so, love.' 

" 'Your eyes alone give me strength,' was my reply. He shook his head with a smile and told me that I flattered him so and then urged me with great vigor to lead him to Ganondorf. 

"Navi all this time had been floating over Link's head, watching the scene before her. As we began to wander towards the door, she dropped down like a spider before my eyes. 'Zelda, I think I owe you an apology….'

" 'The hell do you mean, little one?' I said with a laugh, 'You have done nothing in my eyes to offend.'

" 'I was suspicious of you from the start. I accused and tormented your name and all this time you were only trying to hide,' she said. 

" 'You did what you thought was best. You were trying to protect the one you had been destined to keep safe,' I acknowledged her with a nod. 'You've done well, Navi.'

" 'I am awed at your ability to forgive and forget,' she said.

" ''Tis nothing, little one,' I said as I chased after Link who had run ahead down the hall. He stood at the base of the stairs, waiting for us.

" 'What kept you so long?' he asked a little impatiently. I could see that he was anxious to meet Ganondorf on the plain of battle. He wished to so adamantly for Ganondorf to die. The courage of Faore coursed through his veins. He was the perfect Hero. 

" 'This way,' I began walking down another corridor with a narrow stairs up into a lofty spire. I had idea where I went. I had not seen where Ganondorf had gone after he left me. However, there was a force from somewhere, guiding me right to Ganondorf. It was the power of the Triforce. Now I am almost certain of that. I could hear Link's footsteps just behind me as he followed closely. Navi hovered nearby. As we climbed the stairs, the sound of someone playing a large pipe organ wafted down the corridor to our ears. 

" 'How sinister that sounds,' Link commented, 'No doubt that's Ganondorf.'

" 'It is,' I said simply. I felt myself dropping into that trancelike state. I hadn't been like this in a long time. It almost felt good to lose myself again. I always knew whom I am when I was like this. I felt I was in touch with my inner self. 

"We pressed on into the gloom in silence. As we neared the top of the stairs, a plain looking wood door at the top to greet us, Link's excitement reached a peak and he pushed by me and flung the door open. I was just beyond the threshold and Navi floated at the lintel above me. We beheld inside this seemingly innocent door, Ganondorf sitting at a great organ playing the frightful music we heard on our way. The room was heavy with black magic. As soon as Link had pushed the door open, Ganondorf ceased his playing. He gave a little snort, 'Humph, so you managed to pass through my dungeons after all. Saved the girl from her torment, and now you're here to kill me. You'd think it was going to work out so well for you, didn't you.' I saw him smile cruelly. 'These toys are too much for you. Return them to me!'

"I barged in past Link at this point, 'Forget it you fool! You could never hope to begin to control the powers of the gods. I say, forsake the Triforce of Power!'

" 'You cannot comprehend my power, Zelda,' he said in a calm imposing voice. Without a word, he raised a hand and in the palm of his hand grew a ball of pink colored energy, which flew out in ribbons of light. I found myself immobile and Link threw his hands up over his face to shield himself. 

" 'Link!' I heard Navi call, 'the powers here are too great for me. I cannot help you Link! I'm sorry.' As soon as she got these words out, the power became too great and she was flung out the door. By then, the powers had receded, I was once again trapped within a rosy prism and Link and Ganondorf were squaring off to begin battle. And here I was, ensnared within this prison, unable to help.

" 'Die!' Link cried suddenly, unsheathing his sword and flying out at the tyrant. Ganondorf raised his hand and protected himself with a magic shield. Link leapt back a few paces, pressing his back against the wall. That cruel grin crept over Ganondorf's lips as he let fly a ball of white energy. Link, not expecting such a maneuver, was hit head on by the painful attack. 

"I knew where I had seen this kind of battle before… at the Forest Temple… that Phantom Gannon had attacked in the same way. And how had Link won the day there…? I remembered the sacred sword could deflect such an evil attack. I closed my eyes and tried to contact Link with my telepathic power. _Link… I concentrated all my power on his thoughts…. __Link, hear me! The sword, Link! Use the sacred sword. It will save you! _

"He obviously heard it, because the next time Ganondorf let the same attack fly, Link raised his sword, and the ball of power bounced right off, the sword acting like a shield. And it happened again, and again, until after quite a bit of the magic ball rebounding between them flew into Ganondorf's stomach, paralyzing him. Link was on him in less then a second, hacking away until the monster found his strength returning. The battle went on like this for who knew how long. Back and forth, they went, the battle growing more and more intense as it raged on. After a while, a frantic looking Ganondorf, his cloak torn and his face bruised and bloody, gathered in his hands a massive pocket of energy that resembled a large black rip in the air. 'Now you die Hero,' he muttered with a maniacal laugh as the magic grew and grew in his hands.

"The magic came flying towards Link at an incredible speed. I threw my hands over my eyes in fear. I could hardly watch and see what fate would befall my love. Fear consumed me. I heard Link's fierce battle cry, 'Like hell I will bastard!'

"There was a great flash of light that turned my blackened vision white. And when I finally opened my eyes, slowly at first, and drawing my hands away with a little hesitation, I saw Link standing with his sword thrust forward through Ganondorf's side, a stream of blood pouring down the tyrant's cloak and over Link's thighs. Without a word, he removed the blade from its fleshy sheath and wiped it of the blood. Ganondorf gave a final groan an moaned the name of his killer as he breathed his last and fell to the floor, his body rolling through a section of crumbled tile to the room below. 

"Link came dashing from the center of the room to the wall where my crystal prison hung. He threw his hands against the crystalline walls, as though he were trying to shatter them. He beat the crystal harder and harder, his banging giving way to punching as he tried desperately to break me free. His knuckles became bloody and his bruised, cut face becoming wrought with worry as his attempts began to fail. He had no energy left; he had spent it all during the great battle. 

"Suddenly, the whole room began to shake, the walls of the room crumbling down to their bases. As pieces of the ceiling came crashing down, a large chunk of plaster and stone fell into the crystal and cracked a great fissure in the opal wall. Seeing the danger of the situation, Link gave a final heave against the crystal, and the weakened crystal finally gave way and shattered. The splinters of glassy material fell over our bodies; cutting and making us bleed. There was no pain, for as soon as his body flew against the crystal and freed me, I found myself gliding from the remains of my confinement and with my arms wide open, and I fell against him. He crushed me against his breast and buried his face in my hair. 'Zelda, Zelda, my dear sweet Zelda,' he murmured against me. 

" 'Link,' I whispered. 'Oh, that Ganondorf. Weak and pitiful man he was… the tyrant couldn't control the power. It was too much. And now look what happens.'

" 'Is the Triforce doing this?' he asked, looking around us at the destruction. 

" 'Ganondorf's body is dead, but his soul is not,' I replied. 'He controls the power from the afterlife and is using its power to try and crush us before we can get to safety. Link, this castle will fall right on top of us if we don't hurry out of here right now. We have wasted much time already.'

" 'You're right,' he nodded. We began to pick our way over the already fallen rubble towards the stairs. Link was going quite fast, but in my shoes and with the flowing skirts and petticoats of my dress, I was unable to keep up with him. When he saw this, he came back and scooped me up in his arms and ran with me quickly down the twisted corridors of the evil palace. 'We'll get out of here alive, Zelda,' he said soothingly, 'I swear it.'

"And I knew he would. Link ran like the wind through the castle, shielding me with his body whenever something would come crashing down from above. I used my magic at times to help us off through blockaded rooms and other such hindrances. And just when it seemed that all hope was lost, just as the castle was about to fall on our heads, we dashed out of the place, the doorway caving in on the flowing wisps of my cloak as we sailed free. 

"He set me down on my feet just outside of the wreckage. I turned to him and smiled saying, 'It's over. It's finally over.'

"He smiled back at me, his eyes sparkling blue in the starry light that shone down upon us. 'And here we are. We are free. Hyrule is safe.'

" 'Yes, yes it is,' I laughed, wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing him softly. He greeted my mouth with loving response and kissed me back passionately. 

"Pulling away, a hue of faint red in my cheeks. 'Shall I sing?'

" 'God yes Zelda, sing,' he said. 

"My voice echoes around us in the eerie stillness. 

_" 'We were strangers starting out on a journey,_

_''Never dreaming what we'd have to go through._

_'Now here we are,_

_'And I'm suddenly standing,_

_'At the beginning with you….'_

"And a voice that made my heart sing, for Link joined in, adding his own verse to my tune. His voice was like that of a god.

_" 'No one told me I was going to find you,_

_'Unexpected, what you did to my heart,_

_'When I lost hope,_

_'You were there to remind me,_

_'This is the start….'_

"I was about to join him and continue singing, however, there was a terrifying thumping noise from the heap of rubble before us. Broken arches trembled and shards of glass fell from their frames. 'What was that sound?' I asked. 

"Thump, thump, thump…. 

"It was growing louder. Link slowly made his way towards the wreckage. His footsteps made the faintest noise against the broken tile floor.

"Thump, thump, thump….

"That sound was still there. It was still growing louder and louder. Suddenly, there was a great explosion, from the heart of the ruined castle; Ganondorf flew straight up into the sky. Bent and crumpled, bleeding and bruised, Ganondorf raised his hand, the Triforce of Power emanating a golden glow like I had never seen before. He was breathing heavily, his breath raspy and his eyes aglow. Suddenly he became an odd blue color, and with a mighty yell, he began to transform. His arms bulged out, thick and sinewy and his face grew fat and deformed, ugly and repulsively sinister. He was like a great iron plated pig. 

" 'I am Gannon!' he screamed in his snorting porcine voice. He swung his monstrous fists about, Link flitting like a small insect around his feet. His blunt thumb knocked the Master Sword from Link's hand as he ran by, the sword flying like a boomerang through the black sky and impaling itself into the ground beside me, blade first.

"I heard a jingling noise, the kind that faeries make when they fly, and saw Navi zoom from nowhere to Link's side. 'Link! I'm sorry I couldn't help before. But this time we fight together!'

"Panicked, Link pulled from his belt, a small satchel hardly the size of his palm. He wrenched it open and dug around inside, and much to my surprise, pulled out a full-sized battle hammer. It was the Megaton Hammer he had found in the Fire Temple at the heart of Death Mountain. With that huge hammer, he chased after Gannon as he clumsily plodded around, trying to smack Link with his huge powerful hoof. Link almost had the upper hand though, despite Gannon's great power, for Link was small enough to flit around Gannon's slow moving feet. Navi would shout out hints to Link, flying high into the air and speaking what she saw from her new vantage point. With that great heavy hammer, Link would pound down upon Gannon's tail, pinning him to the ground. After smacking Gannon's tail for what seemed like hours, Link gave a final pound on the tail, and Gannon screamed in pain, crumpling to the floor. 

" 'Link! The Master Sword! It's here!' I shouted at him. He dashed to me and tore the sword from its stony sheath. He seemed pleased to have the sword back in his hands, for it was molded to his grip like mud to a cast.

" 'Now you die!' Link flew at Gannon, who had recovered most of his strength by this time and was back up on his feet. The battle raged on in a similar fashion, Link whacking Gannon's tail with the sacred blade. It seemed much sooner that Gannon's power began to fade. After all, the Megaton Hammer was not blessed with the power of the god whilst the holy Master Sword was. 

" 'Gannon!' I suddenly felt inclined to help. I hated just standing on the sidelines doing nothing but screaming in fear whenever Link was hit. I raised my hand into the air, praying to the sacred three above and asking for their power. They sent me the aid of the Six Sages, their magic flying to my fingertips. Soon as it had gathered to its maximum potency, it flew in a great burst of golden light towards Gannon's hulking body. It crippled him greatly and he fell to his knees. Link looked over towards me in surprise. But my energy was drained and I fell to the ground. Link began to run to my side but I shouted out to him, 'No! Link! Use the sword and kill him! End it _now!'_

"And end it he did. With several menacing slashes, Link hacked across Gannon's face. 'This is for my childhood! —' The first slash— 'and this is for the people you killed—'again and again—'_And this is for Zelda!' He thrust the sword through his heart with that final cry and the evil king finally fell. _

"The Six Sages materialized from the misty power that had confined Gannon in his last minutes. With all their might, they created a great warp into the Sacred Realm and forced Gannon's body inside. There he would remain forever… or until someone was crazy or evil enough to release him. 

" 'Link,' I got to my feet and began to run towards him, '_LINK!' I threw myself against him and embraced him warmly. He pulled me close and kissed the top of my head and I knew we would never be apart again. _

"As we slowly made our way from Gannon's ruined castle towards the city, we ran into Odysseus. He just appeared from the misty shadows before us like a ghost. He said he and the other three had just come from Spotter's Field where they had buried Hermes when they had heard a great commotion from this area. Spotter's Field was a place in an obscure corner of Hyrule where unknown bodies are buried. Thousands of numbered wooden tomb markers line the place, all the home to a body that no one knew. 'We're like phantoms, y'see,' Odysseus had said. 'No one knows we live, and no one shall know when we die.' I smiled and hugged Odysseus, knowing it had been hard for him to burry the man who was most dear to him in such a way. It hurt me to, to know that my great Lord Hermes had been buried as no more than just a number without a name." 

~*~

"And that is my story," Zelda finished. "From start to end, my trials and feelings and hardships."

"Finally," Impa said. "My hand is killing me."

The crowd was silent. They slowly began to go back about their business now that the tale was through. She could see they had been thoroughly moved and words escaped them. Impa flexed her fingers and seemed to be avoiding Zelda's eyes, reflecting on the words that Zelda had spent half the night speaking. Without a word, Zelda rose from her seat and made her way to the door. 'Zelda, where are you going?' Impa called after her, but she received no more an answer than the gentle _click of the door easing closed. _

Out in the cool night, the moon at its peak in the sky, Zelda wandered through Hyrule and soon found herself in Spotter's Field, the solitary cemetery that sat where sun ended its journey through the sky. Tall black trees loomed over the great meadow that was lined with hundreds of neat rows of wooden grave markers. Each was marked with a number smeared on with black paint. Zelda walked solemnly through the rows and came to s halt before one that seemed alone from the rest by a few feet. It was marked '174528.' At the sight of the number, Zelda fell to her knees wrapping her arms around the wooden cross and wept bitterly. Fresh autumn leaves fell from the trees above, littering her cloak with their colorful array. "Hermes…." She whimpered as she began to sing in a choked voice.

_"Free, the dream within._

_The stars are crying,_

_A tear…. A sigh,_

_Escapes from heaven,_

_…And worlds end…"_

There was the soft crunch of footsteps in the leaves behind her. Zelda sat up and turned her head, her vision blurred by her tears. "Link? Is that you, sweet one?"

"I though I would find you here," he said, approaching her. He bent down and held her close, pulling her away from the tomb. "Zelda, I know it hurts you to think that he's gone. But it was just the end of his story. You need to learn how to close the book and begin a new one."

"But Link…." she protested. 

"You can always take his story off the shelf and remember," he said, helping her to her feet. "I told you a story once… my story. Now I think I can tell you the ending."

"What's that?" she asked. 

"I think you know," he replied with a smiled. Leaning over, in the cool autumn air, he kissed her mouth warmly. 

"What happens next?" she asked. 

"I don't know," he said. "It's a mystery."

At this she shook her head. "Link, perhaps this is the end of _this story. But the end of a story means only the beginning of a new one."_

And they walked out of the graveyard, locked in each other's arms, each hand wrapped round the quill of a new tale. 

~*~ 

If the sky opened up for me, And the mountains disappeared, 

_If the sea ran dry, turned to dust,_

_And the sun refused to rise…._

_ _

_I would still find my way,_

_By the light I see in your eyes_

_The world I know fades away,_

_But you stay._

_ _

_As the earth reclaims its due,_

_And the cycle starts anew,_

_We'll stay, always,_

_In the love we have shared,_

_Before time._

_ _

_If the years take away,_

_Every memory that I have,_

_I would still know the way,_

_That would lead me back to your side._

_The North Star may die…._

_ _

_But the light that I see in your eyes,_

_Will burn there always,_

_Lit by the love have shared,_

_Before time._

_ _

_When the forest turns to jade,_

_And the stories that we've made,_

_Dissolve away,_

_One shinning light will still remain._

_ _

_When we shed our earthy skin,_

_And when our real life begins,_

_There'll be no shame,_

_Just the love that we have made,_

_Before time._

_ _

__

Ahaha! After a year or so of toil, it's finally complete! Yes! I know, you're probably thinking, "Oh god, finally. That was longwinded." Well guess what, _so am I_! Don't worry though; this is not the end. I have in the working, a sequel to this. Like I would leave the next chapter untold. Yeah right. Just give me _time_ though. These things just don't happen over night. You know me and killing people… they usually don't stay dead for long…. 

Peace out!

~The Link Worshiper

Another note I might add is what music I ripped from who and where. Here's the list: 

"Drops of Jupiter" by Train; "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion; "Mononoke Hime" the theme from Princess Mononoke; "Melodies of Life" the theme from Final Fantasy IX; "Hero" by Mariah Carry; "Hanging by a Moment" by Lifehouse; "The Dream Within" from Final Fantasy: the Spirits Within; "I Knew I Loved You" by Savage Garden; "Crazy for this Girl" by Evan and Jarron; "Duck and Run" by 3 Doors Down; "At the Beginning" the theme from Anastasia, and finally, "A Love Before Time" the theme from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.


End file.
